With most of a pro-Czech sellout crowd of 17,383 at O2 Arena against them, the Canadians struck early to steal the momentum; Eberle converted a Matt Duchene (Haliburton, Ont./Colorado, NHL) pass at 4:18.

The teams then traded goals in the final minute of the first period. With 58 seconds to go, Jake Muzzin (Woodstock, Ont./Los Angeles, NHL) fed a perfect cross-crease pass to Hall whose one-timer doubled Canada’s lead, but Martin Erat would redirect a Jan Kovar wrist shot 20 seconds later to get the Czechs back within a goal after 20 minutes.

Martin Zatovic tied the game at 15:25 of the second period after redirecting a shot from in close over the glove of Smith, only for Couturier to tip a Toffoli shot past Ondrej Pavelec to restore the two-goal lead.

After failing to score in the tournament’s first eight periods, Canada came alive on the power play in the final frame against the Czechs, converting twice in the first 10:07.

First, Seguin skated the puck out of the corner before getting a wrist shot through traffic to make it 4-2 with 2:02 gone in the period.

A little over eight minutes later, a failed Czech clearing attempt on the penalty kill ended up on the stick of Claude Giroux (Hearst, Ont./Philadelphia, NHL), who fed Crosby for the 5-2 goal.

Vladimir Sobotka would get the Czechs back within two at with 2:24 to go, rifling a wrist shot over Smith, but Toffoli added an empty-netter just 55 seconds later to seal the outcome and clinch the three points.

Smith was solid again in his second start, and was key to a Canadian penalty kill that kept the Czechs goalless in four power play opportunities, and has yet to allow a man-advantage goal through three games.

Canada will face another tough test on Wednesday when it takes on Sweden (2:15 p.m. ET/11:15 a.m. PT).